Market Lane Coffee

Their cups say they love to make coffee, but not how you want it. One size, no choice of milk, cold, slow service. Pathetic in the city of #coffee #melbourne. Dozens of better places nearby. Give this place a miss!

Amazing coffee, great service and Dench bread! Too good… and the best coffee in Melbourne

The original Market Lane Coffee. It’s been around for so long, caused many debates, and helped develop my understanding of coffee. I can’t help but love it.
They have caused a lot of controversy over their decision not to serve skim, almond, or soy milk. I respect them for having the courage to do that as there were many unhappy people.
They hold free weekly cupping sessions to help educate people on speciality coffee. As well as paid classes for baristas and roasting.
Market Lane are about traceability and connecting with people. So they have a lot of in depth information on coffee farms and the people involved in the whole process. They also regularly travel overseas to work with the farmers.
Through everything and everyone I’ve come to know at Market Lane, they are passionate about doing things how they feel is right by them and their products.

Market Lane Café
CBD, Melbourne
Jun 23, 2014
NEGATIVE

How is it that. I once had a great coffee at the South Yarra one but this was one in the CBD was so disgusting and biter.
I find it frustrating they are so overpriced for a long black ($ 6, what on earth?) and they don’t do milky coffees! what???

It amazes me that this place gets such good reviews.
Despite the great location and big windows there is not much to say about it.
My main take always are that it is largely focussed on getting people through reasonably quickly.
The biggest difficulty is that the coffee is terrible. I’ve been here twice and both times it was not worth drinking. I won’t be coming back.

Simply great coffee — straight up. Connected to the Prahan markets, so there’s indoor and semi-​outdoor seating to soak up sunshine on a nice day. Big, communal tables that are great for bigger groups, meeting strangers or catching up on work. I’ll be back, hopefully to try out those delicious looking desserts!

Best coffee I have had so far in Melbourne — highly recommend. A little bit on the expensive side but worth it.

The perfect weekend for me consists of a trip to the market to buy fresh food for the week ahead. A pit stop at Market Lane Coffee is one of the highlights of Prahran Market: delicious coffee made on organic milk with something sweet and decadent on the side. The staff are always friendly, the décor is super Melbourne, and they know how to accommodate singles with a decent amount of bench seating and communal tables. Interestingly enough, they only serve organic milk (no soy, no nut mylk) and as a lactose intolerant person, I can somehow tolerate a latte. Prices are very reasonable, and $ 4 a cup using organic milk is surprising — a lot of places will add a premium for organic. Definitely worth the stop for a great coffee and a good spot for people watching.

Its coffee… and its good. The only thing about this place is it may take a while as the staff are serious about the brew and due to its popularity its always busy, so be paticent it will be worth the wait.

Come here as my friend recommended, and it was good! Coffe was soft easy to drink, not too strong and not too acid. Good quick service!

After some pretty high expectations these were met but not exceeded. It was a nice flat white although not quite as strong as i would have liked. The almond croissant was pretty epic and I liked the atmosphere and setting. All in all a nice café.

On the north side of the Prahran market, this is easily the best coffee I have had in Melbourne, which is saying a lot. Melburnians love their coffee, but despite the various dimensions of coffee options (tall/​short, light/​dark, etc.) the coffee here is a little monotonic. Don’t get me wrong, the espresso is excellent – almost universally so – but espresso is just one planet in a galaxy of coffee options.
Melburnians, at least the ones I have spoken with, almost without exceptions look down on the coffee drinking habits of Americans. How is it possible, they think, to drink that light colored flavorless swill you call coffee they say to the american and, mostly, they are right. But, just like not every wine needs to be an enamel threatening Shriaz, similarly not every cup of coffee needs to be a punch in the taste buds. There is a place for a more delicate cup of coffee.
Enter the «pour over» coffee. In this form of preparation, excellent beans are exquisitely ground and both the water and the coffee is weighed out expertly before the sub-​boiling water is poured over the grounds just so by men and women who, for some reason, are dressed like 19^th century artisans. The result is a cup of coffee, that if made correctly, rivals decent wine or scotch in complexity of flavor. Also, to answer the question of a young woman standing next to me when I received me cup of what, to her must have seemed like dangerously weak coffee, a cup of the stuff does have plenty of caffeine. I know this may be a mark against it, but this kind of thing is all the rage in the hipper and more advanced coffee shops in the US.
Give it a try. There is no better place, that I have found this side of the international date line than Market Lane Coffee. There other coffee is excellent as well, but that almost goes without saying.

This is what you would call a third wave coffee shop with plenty of seating.
Important to note no skinny milk only real milk from Schulz.
This would be one of the best coffee accessory shops with a great range of unique coffee related gifts.
There is a mail order coffee service where fresh coffee beans can be delivered to you all over Australia.
There is limit food with biscuits cakes and Dench’s bread and jam.
This one of Melbourne’s best coffee shops.

Great coffee, excellent service!
Out of habit I asked for skinny milk in my latte (BLASPHEMY! But a little white lie to myself re: slightly less calories to add to my otherwise calorific daily intake). The barista kindly informed me that they use organic full cream milk (instead of the scoff and hiss you’d normally get at a trendy café with no skim milk).
Really enjoyed my coffee, maybe a bit TOO much as I was nursing it to make it last longer… And while gesturing wildly in conversation tipped the glass and spilled :(
Within SECONDS a member of staff was on hand and helped with the clean up — without making me feel like a complete douche… And even came back with a clean cloth to do a second wipe of the table.
Also have the option to add ice to any coffee, which is fantastic — I always feel like a cold coffee, cold drip is a little too strong, and normal «iced coffees» laden with sugar, cream and ice cream not so appealing… Loved my latte with ice :)
Thank guys for the lovely service and excellent coffees!

Conveniently located in a cool part of town, run by nice staff and serving great coffee; Market Lane offers the perfect spot to hang out, have a coffee date or do a bit of reading, study or work stuff away from the distractions at home.
The layout is vibrant and inviting. They also have seating outside which are perfect on a warm summer day.
They say they are not multi-​taskers. They are right about that — they don’t serve lunch and a couple of sweet treats and pastries are all you’ll get. They focus on one thing and one thing only — coffee. Why wouldn’t they when they are so good at it?!
They’re got loads of different types of coffee from various regions of the world and they also run classes.
In the words of my mate (while checking out their coffee cards and menu): «Man. This is life stuff!».
Check it out!

Amazing coffee, great ‘watching the world go by’ seating area, friendly and professional staff. What more can you ask for?
Market Lane is definitely as good as it gets.

Perfect hidden location behind the Prahran Market where you can watch the hustle and bustle of the market shoppers and enjoying an excellent cup of coffee.
I sat down against the window and people watched while there. Such a nice relaxing atmosphere.
The staff is very friendly and vibrant and the coffee is excellent! If only I could convince myself I could afford to join their bean delivery program.
Downside, I wouldn’t have known where to get the excellent coffee if I hadn’t had my full of coffee knowledge husband with me!

Love their selection of delicious filter coffee… Always something new and exciting to try.

I’m not sure why I haven’t been here before, it’s like 2 blocks from my uni!
Have heard many things about Market Lane and it has not disappoint. I tried a pour over coffee from Bolivia called ‘Juan Ticona’ — it was yummmm. Sweet after taste. When they serve you coffee, they also give you a little card which explains the origin of the bean.
This café’s layout is so pleasing to my eye I just want to stay here all day. They have a shelf with bits and pieces you can buy. Things like the cups they serve coffee in, coffee (all different types), milk jugs, sugar and instruments to help you make coffee (and not just the standard espresso). The packaging of the products make me want to buy everything. Even sugar — which I don’t use in my coffee or tea!
I looked around like a kid in a candy shop for quite a while before placing my order. Felt like a weirdo but you can’t rush things like this.
Definitely will be coming here again to try the different pour over types.
The only sad thing, I ordered a hit cross bun and they didn’t toast it :(
But I will live!

There’s a smell that accompanies a good coffee shop. I’m sure it has something to do with the in-​house roasting, but I’d rather think it’s due to the scent of pride the barristas emanate knowing that their coffee is about to rock your world. Either way, Market Lane is rich with just that smell.
And wouldn’t you know it, it’s amazing. They source it, they roast it, and they go to painstakingly coffee-​nerdish lengths to serve you a fantastic cup of coffee. They’ll even teach you how to do it yourself if you’re around on a Thursday morning at 10am, which I happened to be.
Grab a seat at the communal table and enjoy. Then be upset that you don’t wake up next door to the Prahran Market every morning.